This endless week is just about over – I have to come in tonight from 7p to 11p and then I”m off for 4..we are going to try to camp/boat over our weekend which will start on Sunday.
Today is Aunt Frances’ 92nd birthday. She’s out of the hospital and home again with her sister/my mother. She’s like the energizer bunny.
Until next time….
I’m working overtime this week so feel kind of numb…Monday night I went to the annual meeting of the Jasper County Animal Rescue League…I’ve been asked to fill a position on the board…it will be an appointed position which has to be approved by the county board of supervisors..so they told me that I’m on and they want me to attend meetings, etc but it has to be formally approved.
Tonight I attended a union meeting then Jenny and Ryan came for supper…we watched a little TV and let the dogs and cats entertain us before they went home and I came to work.
Dullsville – that is what it is…just trying to stay on track so I don’t burn out before the week is over….Occasionally I feel a flicker of fire under me but so far so good.
Until next time….
80 degrees and sunshine…today is the big indy car race at the Iowa Speedway…should be about 40,000 attendees. I worked it last year..one of the things that sent me scurrying off to midnights…that and weather and the cell phone heros that call everything in on the interstate including the 2 day old accident wrapped in yellow police tape…or even double wrapped in yellow police tape; and during the winter, double wrapped with 2 days of Iowa snow piled on top..but they just keep calling…not one, mind you..that would be understandable – 80 mph, road mesmerized, flash of semi rolled over – CALL. We have even had people call 911 to report an accident when there is a fully marked squad car with cool flashing lights sitting beside it…how about the cell phone hero last night who called in a drunk driver northbound on a state highway not sure where they were other than somewhere in a 15 mile stretch between the mile long bridge across Lake Red Rock (not in my county) and the next closest town to the north which is on the county line…hmmm…but the best part is….. No description…a car…thanks – that helps…Of course with all of the bad press that law enforcement and 911 dispatchers receive, we have to put this crap out to the officers or should the worst scenario happen and this phantom idiot kills someone, our litigous society would have it tied up in civil court for years – trying to reach into the deep pockets of a county…..had the caller really cared, he would have tried to help with a little more information …. instead of just wanting to be a cell phone hero. Large car/mediumcar/small car, configuration of taillights or headlights…light or dark colored….Or the typical road rage call…someone pulled in front of me..I’ll show them…I’ll call the cops..or..someone has been tailgating me for 30 miles – 911 dispatcher: at the next exit why don’t you pull off and let them get ahead of you…just sit and relax for a minute or so until they get a mile down the road and see if that helps..caller: why should I have to get off the road..BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ONE WITH THE PROBLEM, MORON.
Whew…glad I got that off of my chest.
I never shared a cup of coffee with him – that he knew about, anyway – from the “big box” he never talked AT me, we discussed politics together….I always thought him to be a really nice guy. I already told you about his conversation with Carl about the Miami Dolphins and my other close contact was in January, Jenny was flying to Philadelphia and called me from the Des Moines airport and said – Mom…Tim Russert walked by…thru texting and phone calls, she gave me a play by play of his activity in the airport…I begged her to go up to him and get an autograph for Carl and I but she felt he didn’t deserve to be mobbed and so declined.
I wept thru nearly the entire memorial service on MSNBC yesterday…why…this doesn’t happen to me very often…the last time I think was when Michael Landon died although I may be missing someone in between there.
Yesterday’s memorial service challenged me to lead a truly honorable life, to get off my butt; to take full advantage of my gifts and follow my passion, to be authentic, to do everything with passion and compassion so that when “the cycle of nature” is complete, perhaps someone will be inspired by my life.
Due to my angle, these are not going to be those pictures that say it all ( although that is one nice crock hanging from my foot) …..Christa and Brett brought little Daisy to the cookout/bonfire yesterday. Brett wanted Daisy to be subjected to the pack mentality – if you don’t know about Cesar the Dog Whisperer, you won’t understand. Daisy handled our 3 dogs just fine…she especially handled Marley..the poor big lug followed her around and drooled. She totallly ignored him….she’s a princess!
Reference yesterday’s entry..thanks for the comments you left..isn’t it wierd that most of us have never met face to face but we are xanga friends and still get to know each other. I think it is because we get our feelings out and most of us are girls in different levels of emotional health but all still emotional. Us Xanga friends don’t have all of the other crap, we just get down to business with the word.Thank you for your comments. I truly feel supported.
…and then to Tim Russert…is anyone out there sharing the overwhelming sadness because of his death. I’m a Meet the Press fan and have always been a huge fan of Tim and the humaness (is that a word) that he brought to reporting politics. Jenny’s father in law, Carl, wearing his Miami Dolphins jacket was observing the action at a John Edwards event prior to the Iowa caucus…Tim Russert walked up to him and said…”you poor sucker” and pointed to the Miami Dolphin’s jacket…they exchanged a laugh and had a short conversation about football. Carl was so impressed with his down home attitude and friendliness.
I watched a couple of hours on CNN tonight with Campbell Brown, Larry King, et al about Tim’s life and am very, very sad that he is gone. David Bloom and Peter Jennings were hard to take but Tim Russert’s death brings tears to my eyes. . RIP.
92 year old Aunt Frances (lives with 90 year old mother next door) called me a little after 1am yesterday morning, said she was in terrible pain and I needed to come over. How many times this has happened, I can’t begin to explain..grrrrr. When I got there, Aunt Frances asked me to feel her hernia, it was very solid…this is a hernia she has had many years; I knew this was not a good sign. In the middle of a rain storm – can you believe that – I hauled her into the ER where they found her to have an incarcerated hernia which would require emergency surgery to repair. She was afraid. Being the God fearing woman she is, I thought it was okay to tell her that she would die without the surgery. I could see the fear and indecision in her eyes. I asked her if she was afraid of dying. She said no but she really liked living. She said, I’m in God’s hands. I told her there were really two things that could happen…she would either survive and come back here or go home. She decided to have the surgery. They wheeled her in around 6:15a and it was all over at 7:15 and after an hour in recovery, I heard her coming down the hall before I saw her. She was on demerol, away from my mother for awhile…her life was good. Surgery went well.
Before you judge me on the rest, either read my previous blogs about my narcissistic mother, or trust me when I tell you she has been very difficult and it took me lots of therapy, medication and the peace of God to not find a way to kill myself when my dad died and left me with her. My aunt gave up a go-getter life in Des Moines when my mother begged her to get her out of the nursing home and live with her last December. Aunt Frances wanted to give her Christmas and a month at home to get things in order then mom would go back to the nursing home and she would move back to Des Moines…to her church and her friends…needless to say, she just can’t bring herself to be responsible for moving mom back into the nursing home. She is a much better person than I am. My mother fights and competes with her day and night and does not believe for a second that my aunt is living there to take care of her…anyway…I wasn’t going to get in to this garbage.
At 5:30 this morning, mom calls Dana – (the daughter of a good friend of mine who takes care of them 3 x a week) and begged Dana to drive over here and take her to the hospital because she was alone. Then once there, not to be outdone by Aunt Frances, she had to go to the emergency room because she was having a pain in HER stomach. Ya…she’s constipated.
Meanwhile, because I was at the hospital all night, Jenny went to DM to pick Katy up at the airport. I tried to sleep on and off today but had insomnia because I could not figure how I was going to get to see Katy..get my mother home from the hospital and “deal” with her etc etc. I have the two best girls in the world, they took care of it for me..they went to see Aunt Frances – who was totally enjoying the demerol and brought g’ma home – got her situated and made life so much easier for me. Kate took me aside and said she had thought a lot about it, and I needed to remember that g’ma has an extreme psychiatric disorder and at least she isn’t mean like a lot of other old people…ya…she got that out of her system when I was young. I have to honestly say that it feels so good to have someone take care of me instead of my history of the other way around. “He” takes care of me too – but I always feel guilty when he has to deal with her because it just seems above and beyond the call of husbandry.
The big thing I learned about myself today is that I’ve been away from all of mom’s crap for awhile..I just don’t get involved unless there is an emergency..and I’m much better…but whenever I have to deal with her or figure out how to deal with her, I revert back. Today and tonight I found myself food binging. I haven’t eaten everything I could get my hands on for a long time – it’s not normal stress – it is mother and aunt Frances stress..so now I know that I have some work to do on the old psych.
If you are still reading this, thanks…today’s novel was for me to get the feelings out so I can deal with them and move on.
:: edit:: Oh great…it’s Friday the 13th
Back in April, I handled a 911 call that made my blood run cold … it was the call of a 24 year old woman who had been kidnapped and held against her will… http://weblog.xanga.com/Ninasusan/650792602/therapy.html . This girl had the presence of mind to call me on 911 and then speak to me in code like she was talking to her mother to get the point across that she was scared and needed help.
I have to give a deposition today in the case. I was supoened by the defendant’s attorney.. I can’t figure out why I’ve been called to testify since they have the entire recorded 911 call…I’m guessing that any moron who listened to it would understand the young woman’s terror and how smart she was to save her own life. But if it helps to substantially minimize the “enjoyment of life” for the bastard, I’ll do it without complaint. I hope the victim has a depo today also so maybe I can meet her.
The sky is beautiful today.. Everything is so green from all of the rain
Here’s the site of the tree falling accident last week which caused me to be lame (and I use the term loosely).
Until next time….
It is Sunday night…what a week it has been…I’m betting the humidity today didn’t help those with respiratory problems…then it rained tonight and we had some severe weather. We went to Ryan and Jenny’s for supper. Carl and Jane were there too. We all kind of did our own thing. We had a group watching recorded races on TV, we had a group playing pool and we had a group just talking about “stuff”…was very calming and enjoyable.
Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be nice – without rain – we are going to take the boat and camper to Red Rock for a couple of days. So looking forward to it… Not sure what to do with the canine critters yet. May take them with us but that is a “lot of dog” to be responsible for. I’m sure Marley would like to hang out with us on the boat – I don’t think I trust the other two – or at least the other one – Devil Dog!!
Kate is flying in Thursday to celebrate her birthday late and Father’s Day on Sunday. This week is shaping up to be something to look forward to enjoying.
Have a great week…
Until next time….
Ninasusan 